Happy 2025, everyone. The new year brings a lot to consider - plans for the upcoming months, habits to start or renew, and reflections on the previous year. As we have covered in Plume IQ, the holiday period is one of the most interesting times for consumer behavior insights. Companies plan roadmaps and marketing campaigns specifically to drive purchases in just a few short weeks at the end of the year. In our first issue of 2025, we’re going to look at how the gaming industry did.
Not surprisingly, gaming devices were again one of the most popular gift items given during the holiday season. For the last few years, Plume IQ has tracked the popularity of these specific gifts by noting how many times we see a gaming device for the first time on our networks. Throughout the year they remain one of the most popular consumer devices to join Plume networks. In 2024, we saw tens of thousands of gaming devices added each week in the United States - a good baseline to compare against holiday performance.
Compared to an average week in 2024, the weeks in December saw meaningfully more gaming devices added. The first two weeks (starting on 12/2 and 12/9) saw 8% and 6% gains, respectively. Larger spikes followed: the week starting 12/16 saw 28% more gaming devices added, and the week starting 12/23 (Christmas and Hanukkah week) saw a stunning 233% increase in gaming devices added to Plume networks.
Nintendo devices were the winner, beating both Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation. Of those three brands, Nintendo accounted for 37.4% of new gaming devices added in December. Sony wasn’t far behind, with 37.2% of the share of new devices among the three and Microsoft, as has been the case in years past, came in third with a 25% share of the increase. Game on.
Join Plume in Atlanta
Join us at the NCTC Winter Educational Conference (WEC). On February 25th from 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm ET, Plume Acting CEO and Co-founder Adam Hotchkiss will delve into Optimizing Network Efficiency: Strategies and Benefits of Offloading Cellular Data to Wi-Fi Networks.
Interested in learning more? Book a meeting with Plume here.
OpenSync 6.6
OpenSync 6.6 is now available. This comprehensive update enables key advancements for WiFi 7, unified management, and 5G Uplink support.
OpenSync 6.6 Highlights:
- MLO for WiFi 7: Met the Wi-Fi Alliance requirement for the WiFi 7 certification
- Simplified Integration: platform-agnostic iptables/ebtables skip-accel action, simplify DPI support by reducing custom patches in SDK
- Simpler SDN Design: Dropped Open vSwitch bridge support and dual-bridge design, focusing on Linux SDN only
- Unified Management: Replaced Wireless Manager (WM) and Band Steering Manager (BM) with OneWiFi for seamless, combined control of WiFi functions
- 5G Uplink Support: Combined LTEM and CELLM into one manager, enabling 5G support and a more efficient codebase
Learn more about OpenSync 6.6 here.
News Roundup
Plume’s Principal Product Manager for Uprise, Tony Liebel, joined Doug Green on the Telecom Reseller podcast. They discussed the news of the first outdoor access point certified to work with Plume’s services, what the multi-resident real estate market needs from a WiFi product, and how Plume works with our partners to improve the quality of their services.
Plume’s Chief Legal & Privacy Officer, Shari Piré added expert guidance on Data Privacy Day and the 2025 theme of “Take control of your data.” In an industry roundup, “Tech Experts Reflect on Data Privacy Day 2025” she noted, “With roughly three billion devices connected to our cloud, we’re able to leverage the data we collect to delight our customers with the services they want and insights they need—while contemporaneously protecting that data.
Simply put, at Plume, we believe our customers should stay in control of their personal data—regardless of where they live. Plume’s desire to deliver the highest quality experience and put our customers in the driver’s seat with respect to the data they share with us, underscores our privacy program and supports our decision to adopt a ‘high-watermark’ approach to compliance. We think that this approach makes good business sense. Not only does it streamline compliance, it helps Plume protect our customers’ data.”
#PlumeStrong
Opening of Aslam Selim Anatolian High School in Adiyaman, TurkeyIn 2023, #PlumeStrong pledged funds raised from the #PlumeStrong Cycling Challenge (#PSCC23) to help construct a new public school in the Adiyaman region of Turkey, an area devastated in the Turkey-Syria earthquake that occurred in February of that year.
We’re proud to share that the Aslam Selim Anatolian High School has now opened in Adiyaman, Turkey.
Plume’s General Manager of European Operations, Jasna Mihelj Coustaury, who has led the #PlumeStrong program, was in Adiyaman on January 14 to officially open the school and welcome the new students.
The school will accommodate 540 students and over 40 teachers in 16 classrooms, along with a library, science lab, and a computer lab with laptops donated by Plume. We are extremely grateful for the efforts and generosity of our #PSCC23 riders, partners, and donors - this would not have been possible without you. Thank you again!